[gixxer]

Hello,

The front bumper has seen better days. The car has 221,000 miles on it. And has the original xpel ppf from 2002 install that's just looking really faded and yuck.

I could spend days with steaming, etc. to remove the ppf, and the sticky residues that it leaves behind. Underneath sticky residues if cleaned up okay, should leave the original bumper from 2002, before xpel went on.

Looking at reasonable cost option to replace the front bumper with pre-painted bumpers from online places. I'll do the swap myself, seem doable after looking at few DIY's.

Options are,

a) $280+tax that is ship "folded" (expect some imperfections)
b) $560+tax that is ship "unfolded" (0 imperfections, so they say)

Anyone here has done business with online places (eg. MBI Auto, PaintNShip, etc.) that sell pre-painted bumpers and used their "economy" (aka. shipped "folded") bumper?

Thanks.

 

[rbhollabaugh]

I helped a neighbor replace the rear bumper on his Accord. Bought a pre-painted bumper from some shop on ebay. It was not folded. The paint match was very close considering the car was already 15 years old. The bumper itself was good quality. You could tell it was not as thick plastic as the original. But in the end it took like 30 minutes to do the whole job and looked near perfect when done.
I'd be concerned about the bumper being shipped by folding it in half.

 

[davedrivesody]

Several folks on the forum have compared the folded with the unfolded bumper cover.

I think the consensus is that the folded doesn't look quite as nice as the unfolded, but is still plenty nice.

Here's one thread with many good comments. Search term is "fold" and "bumper" to see some others.

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

steam off the xpel and keep the stock bumper.

it wont take you half as long as replacing the bumper and moving parts over from the old to the new bumper.
and its WAY cheaper

also the paint quality on the aftermarket shipped direct bumpers is not as good.

 

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[tritan]

It’s worth getting the folded one if you are getting the primed one with intention of painting it. I replaced the one in my 06 years back. It came out perfect. When all is said and done, you can’t see the crease of the fold. We had the paint mixed at Napa.

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

It’s worth getting the folded one if you are getting the primed one with intention of painting it. I replaced the one in my 06 years back. It came out perfect. When all is said and done, you can’t see the crease of the fold. We had the paint mixed at Napa.

looks great...

how well did it hold up to stone chips and cracks?

I find the aftermarket ones could use some bulldog adhesion promoter and better quality clear coat, for increased durability to parking bumps and road debris.

 

[tritan]

how well did it hold up to stone chips and cracks?

The paint job was what I made of it with the small compressor I had and a cheap spray gun from Harbor freight.

I found the bumper more brittle, thinner and not as flexible as the original. But it looked good and was a perfect fit. Unfortunately, we hit a raccoon a few months later and it shattered. Pretty sure the original would have held. So we bought another one and re-did the whole thing. Luckily I had paint and clear coat left over.

The bumper I got was MBI at Amazon. It was just primered. It was cheap, like 78 dollars back then.

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

The paint job was what I made of it with the small compressor I had and a cheap spray gun from Harbor freight.

I found the bumper more brittle, thinner and not as flexible as the original. But it looked good and was a perfect fit. Unfortunately, we hit a raccoon a few months later and it shattered. Pretty sure the original would have held. So we bought another one and re-did the whole thing. Luckily I had paint and clear coat left over.

The bumper I got was MBI at Amazon. It was just primered. It was cheap, like 78 dollars back then.

I used a partify.com primed painted and clear coated, delivered in bubble wrap, no folds no damage.
country roads sandblasted the shit out of it within a year, due to low quality clear coat.

otherwise holding up well for what I paid for it pre build back better pricing.

next time I will wet sand and spray my own clear coat on it for added durability.

 

[gixxer]

Thank you all for the feedbacks, appreciate it.

I will start by following the below suggestion.

steam off the xpel and keep the stock bumper.

it wont take you half as long as replacing the bumper and moving parts over from the old to the new bumper.
and its WAY cheaper

also the paint quality on the aftermarket shipped direct bumpers is not as good.

This video shows the amount of elbow grease to be prepared for,

 

[gixxer]

I used a partify.com primed painted and clear coated, delivered in bubble wrap, no folds no damage.
country roads sandblasted the shit out of it within a year, due to low quality clear coat.

If partify ships painted bumper for the cost plus shipping without folded (assuming that's the case) then the costs shown here, seem to put them at around $422'ish.

I'll call them tomorrow to confirm the shipment is with without folded. If that's the case then hrm, $422'ish versus my own time to clean up the ppf (and get back factory finish bumper behind it). Hrm...

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

Thank you all for the feedbacks, appreciate it.

I will start by following the below suggestion.




This video shows the amount of elbow grease to be prepared for,

I think his grief was compounded by the fact his paint protecting film was cracked and did not come off in sections, and also his weenie little steamer.
use a big one like those for removing wallpaper.

there are other videos showing it to be less difficult.

 

[gixxer]

Well, so much for that hope of unfolded with Partify...

 

[2011.2017.odyssey]

Well, so much for that hope of unfolded with Partify...

bizarre...

mine came wrapped in foam padding and an outside layer of bubble wrap via fedex.

no folds no damage.